The portrait of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff was made by the Honored Artist of the Russian Federation and sculptor Konstantin Yakovlevich Malofeyev, who is associated with the Tambov region, just like the great composer himself.
Konstantin Malofeyev was born on January 2, 1934, in the village of Akhmatovo, Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He graduated from the Penza Art College. In 1955, he was allocated to work in Tambov. Malofeyev contributed a lot to the beautification of the streets and buildings of the city, where he stayed for the rest of his life. One of his most significant works is the monument “Eternal Glory” on Sobornaya Square, created in collaboration with the sculptor Sergey Yefimovich Lebedev.
The legacy of Konstantin Malofeyev is mostly comprised of portraits and one-figure genre compositions. Between the 1970s and the 1980s, the sculptor created a series of portraits of famous people. One of Malofeyev’s latest works is a sculptural portrait of the composer Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff that adorns the territory of the Rachmaninoff Museum-Estate in the village of Ivanovka, Uvarovsky district. The bronze work presented in the Tambov Regional Art Gallery is a maquette for this sculpture.
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) was an outstanding composer, pianist, and conductor. He was born in the Novgorod Governorate in the Oneg estate. His grandfather was an amateur pianist, who composed romances; his parents also played the piano. The boy began taking piano lessons organized by his mother at the age of four. In 1882, the Rachmaninoffs relocated to Saint Petersburg. The parents of little Sergei used their connections to provide him with a scholarship at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Rachmaninoff’s extraordinary musical talent was noticed by all his teachers. By the age of fifteen, Rachmaninoff had composed a lot of piano pieces. Even back then, he was talked about as a brilliant pianist and excellent conductor. In 1889, Sergei Rachmaninoff moved in with his aunt Varvara Satina. There, Rachmaninoff had the opportunity to study music and composition in peaceful surroundings. Everybody in the family showered him with care and affection. Subsequently, one of Varvara Satina’s daughters Natalia would become his wife. Sergei Rachmaninoff spent the summers of 1890 and 1891 in the Ivanovka estate, which belonged to the Satins and was located in a picturesque area in the Tambov governorate. This place became a source of inspiration for him and even led to the creation of the legendary Piano Concerto No. 1. Almost everything that Rachmaninoff composed during his last 17 years in Russia was created in Ivanovka.
Konstantin Malofeyev was born on January 2, 1934, in the village of Akhmatovo, Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He graduated from the Penza Art College. In 1955, he was allocated to work in Tambov. Malofeyev contributed a lot to the beautification of the streets and buildings of the city, where he stayed for the rest of his life. One of his most significant works is the monument “Eternal Glory” on Sobornaya Square, created in collaboration with the sculptor Sergey Yefimovich Lebedev.
The legacy of Konstantin Malofeyev is mostly comprised of portraits and one-figure genre compositions. Between the 1970s and the 1980s, the sculptor created a series of portraits of famous people. One of Malofeyev’s latest works is a sculptural portrait of the composer Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff that adorns the territory of the Rachmaninoff Museum-Estate in the village of Ivanovka, Uvarovsky district. The bronze work presented in the Tambov Regional Art Gallery is a maquette for this sculpture.
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) was an outstanding composer, pianist, and conductor. He was born in the Novgorod Governorate in the Oneg estate. His grandfather was an amateur pianist, who composed romances; his parents also played the piano. The boy began taking piano lessons organized by his mother at the age of four. In 1882, the Rachmaninoffs relocated to Saint Petersburg. The parents of little Sergei used their connections to provide him with a scholarship at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Rachmaninoff’s extraordinary musical talent was noticed by all his teachers. By the age of fifteen, Rachmaninoff had composed a lot of piano pieces. Even back then, he was talked about as a brilliant pianist and excellent conductor. In 1889, Sergei Rachmaninoff moved in with his aunt Varvara Satina. There, Rachmaninoff had the opportunity to study music and composition in peaceful surroundings. Everybody in the family showered him with care and affection. Subsequently, one of Varvara Satina’s daughters Natalia would become his wife. Sergei Rachmaninoff spent the summers of 1890 and 1891 in the Ivanovka estate, which belonged to the Satins and was located in a picturesque area in the Tambov governorate. This place became a source of inspiration for him and even led to the creation of the legendary Piano Concerto No. 1. Almost everything that Rachmaninoff composed during his last 17 years in Russia was created in Ivanovka.
